Hello! Today I am very much honored to be representing Indiana Radiologic Technologists as the President of the ISRT. I first would like to tell you a little about myself. I am not originally from Indiana. I grew up just outside of St. Louis in St. Charles, Missouri. I have a bachelor's degree in Health Management with emphasis in Athletic Training. I moved out here in 2002 with my now husband (Dustin J). At that time I decided that I was ready for a career change, and radiology was where I was drawn. I graduated in 2006 from the Community Health Network School of Radiologic Technology and now work in the CT department of Community Hospital East. I was privileged to be a Student Page for the ISRT in 2004-2005, and I was selected as one of three students in the country to attend the ASRT Leadership Academy in 2006.
I am very excited about the upcoming year for the ISRT. There will be many changes taking place. The first is that we will no longer be holding a Spring Conference. Instead we would like to hold two or three one-day seminars, one of which will be in the Northern, another in the Central and the third in the Southern part of the state. It has also been decided to keep the Annual Conference in a central location of the state. Our reasons for these changes are to reach more of our membership as well as to reach those technologists who are not yet members. We feel that with schedules as busy as they are now days, the ISRT must change the way is does things in order to satisfy the needs of its members. We hope these changes will decrease the intimidation of being a committee member or chairperson for a seminar or conference.
Another change being made is the addition of several committees. Our legislative liaison has done an excellent job for us by keeping an eye on any legislation in Indiana pertaining to our field, but we want to increase focus on legislation not only in Indiana, but nationally (specifically the CARE Bill). People serving on the legislative committee will be keeping an eye on Indiana legislation as it pertains to radiology as well as contacting our representatives and Senators to increase support for the CARE Bill. An advertising committee is the second addition this year. I feel this is an area needing more attention, to bring in revenue for the society. This committee will update our existing vendor contacts, as well as bring in new advertisers for the ISRT JOURNAL, website, seminars and conferences. I also would like to announce that we have not yet found volunteers to serve as either the Director of Competitions or Bylaws Chairperson for the 2007-2008 year. These two job description can be found on the newly updated ISRT website at www.ISORT.org.
Today I am challenging all of you to get involved if you aren't already. We have plenty of opportunities available. If you are interested in hosting a one day seminar or chairing the 2008 Annual Conference, or would like to be a part of one of the committees mentioned, please let any of the board members know.
Again I would like to thank you for allowing me to be your President. We are headed towards new and exciting additions and changes this year. I am very excited to have this opportunity to participate with everyone to make this society even greater one than it is already!
